Saban "building relationships" with city authority figures

Maybe you noticed last night that Alabama captain Rashad Johnson was offered a plea deal by the city attorney's office of Tuscaloosa. I wrote about it here and here. Maybe you noted that Johnson's attorney Josh Swords -- the former University of Alabama football player -- is working with city officials and with the Tuscaloosa Police to get this done. Swords, by the way, used to work in the D.A.'s office.

They are currently negotiating the conditions -- i.e. how many hours of community service or how many nights will Johnson ride along with the police?

Building relationships with the locals...

I talked about all this Swords last night, but before he got off the phone, I had one more question: What is Nick Saban's role in all of this? The response was interesting.

"Coach Saban's concern has been with the relationship between the university, the football team and with the Tuscaloosa police," Swords told me. "He hasn't been here long and he wants to become more familiar with people of authority in the city and build relationships with these people."

It's obvious, but I still asked: Why?

"Through him building relationships with (city authority figures), that will help his team build relationships," Swords said.

"Hopefully, that will build a better future for everyone involved," Swords continued. "Everyone is excited about doing that, instead of moving the other way. That's going to make it easier to find a resolution when these things occur in a way that doesn't require a judge and jury."

Actually, when Saban had a news conference earlier this week, after talking about how he doesn't condone this type of alleged behavior, he told me something remarkable similar.

"I also think we are going to work hard to try to develop the kind of cooperation with people (so) we don't have these issues, unless it is absolutely necessary," Saban said, "through maybe building better relationships."

With the police, I asked? "I said what I meant," he responded. "Relationships. People in the community -- everyone involved."

Later, he broached the subject more specifically.

"I have tremendous respect for our police department," Saban said, "the people that are in the position to protect the community and the positions that they get put into relative to trying to protect our community and folks in our community. And we're going to continue to try to work with these people so that we don't have issues in the future."

If you ask me, this isn't a bad move by a football coach in a small town like Tuscaloosa. And the police appear receptive -- notice how closely they are working with with the city and with Johnson in this instance. It's not just the police, though. Saban met with Mayor Walt Maddox and may have even watched the video with him.

Two more interesting notes:

-- Johnson has spent time in the past interning at the district attorney's office, which is why all the judges, lawyers, etc., know him. But because he is still technically charged with disorderly conduct, he's not allowed to work there anymore -- at least until this gets officially dismissed with those conditions.

-- There is a meeting scheduled next week with Swords and the T-Town police to discuss what is on the tape and how Swords feels it doesn't match what's on the police report.

"They do not match," Swords told me. "We have meetings planned next week with the city attorneys and the police department to discuss the questions we have about the facts in the report and the video. They do not match, to a degree that merits discussion."